European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 15, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Of cts turkish business in Germany in t restricted to a Little Kebab stand anymore by Terrence Petty the associated press ack when Huseyin Kuru was a Young Man struggling to get ahead a neighbourhood of germans vetoed his attempt to buy a House. They told the Home s owner they did t want a Turk of their Block so Kuru was turned Down. But Kuru never let bigotry stand in his Way. Now he s a wealthy Man Captain of a big import Export business. And he has a House in Dusseldorf far grander than the one denied him 18 years ago. Kuru is a former Gast Arbeiter or guest  the first guest workers arrived in Germany More than three decades ago with Little More than a train ticket a suitcase and Uncertain chances of improving their lives in a country with a racist past. But some like Kuru Are now powerful people in big business the arts Academia and other Fields. Germans Are Kemal Sahin shown outside his clothing compan Headquarters is called the richest Turk in Germany. Starting to realize that these immigrants Are a Force to reckon with. Guest  sounds Tike an honorary title. But it often meant accepting jobs too menial for most native germans. About a million turks were invited by the West German government to come and work Between 1961 and 1973, filling a labor shortage created when communist East Germany built the Berlin Wall and stopped East germans from seeking work in the More prosperous West. Spaniards and italians were invited As Well. But turks who arrived in greater numbers have come to symbolize this hard toiling class of immigrants. The immigrants Standard of living is generally lower than germans and their jobless rate is higher. Thousands live in run Down Flats in big City ghettos., Many of the immigrants especially the More recent generation Are closing a Prosperity Gap that once yawned Between the first guest workers and German natives. Turks were originally invited to Germany to work in Coal mines and other places Short of labor. They re becoming doctors executives lawyers scientists novelists intellectuals painters sculptors and television stars. Others have founded construction companies clothing factories and travel agencies frequently irritating their German rivals by showing More ambition and offering lower prices. More immigrants Are on their Way up. About 12,000 turks attend German universities. Turkish business in Germany in t restricted to a Little Kebab stand anymore says cig dem Akkala a researcher at Essen University s Center for turkish studies. A popular View among germans is that immigrants Are economic sponges who have no interest in making a life time commitment to Germany. Harald Schumacher author of a Book on Germany s immigrants says that s patently false. They immigrants pay considerably More in taxes and welfare contributions than they take from the state Schumacher says. Economically speaking Germany can t do without  immigrants Are helping fuel Germany s economic engines. There Are 35,000 Independent turkish businesses in Germany employing More than 125,000 people one third of them germans. Their annual purchasing Power is valued at $30 billion. The especially like status symbols. A new Survey shows that 20 percent of All turkish car owners in Germany drive a Mercedes mostly of the used variety. The economic barriers Between germans and their turkish guests Are falling. But racial canyons seem to. Get wider. Immigrants see Neo nazi violence that has rocked Germany since unification As a big setback in their March toward upward mobility. When i was a Schoolboy in Turkey we Learned that germans Are Bur Only True friends because we never had a War with them says Kuru now 40. This was a very emotional thing. It was t France England or some other country. It was  nine turks Are among 49 people murdered by right Wing extremists in the past three years. Germans tend to see the turks islamic Faith As getting in the Way of assimilation. Turks on the other hand accuse germans of rejecting them just because they re different another Bone of Contention is citizenship. Most of the turkish immigrants can t vote because they re not German citizens. Many would like a German passport but not if that Means giving up their turkish ones. But Chancellor Helmut Kohl is reluctant to give them dual citizenship because that might create conflicting allegiances. Kuru was bom on a farm near the Dardanelles Strait and arrived in Dusseldorf when he was 15. At times it seemed like the doors to Success were permanently dead bolted. But that did t Stop him. He pulled until the doors opened. His Export import concern puts olives Goat cheese spices and other turkish specialities onto people s tables across Germany. He started the company in a Concrete shelter the size of a one car garage. Now his goods fill whole warehouses. Kuru has More creature comforts than Many germans including a Cherry red Mercedes sports car Worth about $70,000. He also owns a grand Home. Sitting in a Roomy executive s chair at his Dusseldorf Headquarters Kuru thinks Back on his youth a Plo share scrapes through the moist turkish soil lambs bleat sweetly the Sun slants through a Grove of Olive Trees. Kuru s family was poor. His parents used a cow for blowing because they had no tractor. Hoping to end their penury Kuru s father went to Germany As a guest worker in 1965, leaving his wife and four children to tend the farm. The father Laboured away in a hot German steel foundry. He returned to Turkey four years later to retrieve Huseyin. The younger Kuru s first Job in Germany was loading steel onto big trucks for about $45 a week. He lived in a cramped apartment with 11 other turks. Some germans scoffed at the boy when he spoke of rising above the lot that was often assigned to immigrants. He usually got up at 5 a.m., worked until 4 30 p.m., attended classes at night to learn computers and to get his High school diploma and returned Home around 10. 26 Thi stars and stripes monday november is. 1993